View full sizeRed Huber, Orlando Sentinel, via The Associated PressAn external fuel tank built at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility arrives at the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday. The space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission is targeted for launch in February 2011. The fuel tank left Louisiana on Sept. 21.

An official with Lockheed Martin, the aerospace company that has had the contract to build external tanks at Michoud since 1973, said the layoffs, which will be in the hundreds, are still slated to occur on Thursday. The official, who requested anonymity, could not provide a precise number of layoffs, though he said the affected employees have already been notified.

Bobby Savoie, chairman of Stennis-Michoud Aerospace Corridor Alliance, said he hopes the layoffs will be of a short duration if the authorization bill is enacted and if Congress provides sufficient funding in an upcoming budget bill.

"There's a lot of uncertainty at this point, because we don't know what will be in the (spending) bill and won't know until later this week," said Savoie, president of Geocent, a Metairie-based technology and information services firm. "But the hope is that those layoffs might only be for a short period of time, and hopefully we will be soon building back up the job base."

Lockheed Martin, which employed 1,500 workers at Michoud on Jan. 1, has dropped the workforce to slightly below 1,000, with the additional cuts slated for Thursday, according to the company.

The authorization bill to be taken up the House today is identical to a measure that passed the Senate earlier this year. If passed, it will authorize $19 billion in spending for 2011 and $58 billion over the next three years.

President Barack Obama is expected to sign the measure into law though some of the provisions run counter to his own recommendations for the space program.

The bill:

Protects the so-called Orion crew vehicle and says that it should be developed for deep space missions, not just for the International Space Station as proposed by the president. That could keep 200 to 300 jobs at Michoud, according to Louisiana congressional members.

Contains language directing NASA to begin refurbishment of the ET-94, a space shuttle external fuel tank, stored at Michoud that was damaged during Hurricane Katrina. That could retain 300 to 500 jobs for the short term. The tank would be used as a backup for an additional shuttle flight next year that would be added to NASA's space schedule by the legislation.

Requires NASA to develop a heavy lift launch capability immediately, rather than waiting for a new design in 2015, as originally proposed by the president. It calls for the new heavy lift vehicle to be operational by the end of 2016, which could mean work on the vehicle could start in the next several years, with key elements expected to be built at Michoud.

"This NASA authorization clearly sets the course for the future of our nation's manned spaceflight program and ensures that Michoud and our region will continue to play a vital role in the space program," said U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson. "Not only does this bill remove uncertainties about the future of manned spaceflight, but it also ensures that NASA begins the new fiscal year with clearly determined priorities, which will prevent more layoffs."

Since 1973, Lockheed Martin has produced and delivered 134 external space shuttle tanks at Michoud. But the planned demise of the shuttle program has led to the layoffs at Michoud.

"The layoffs will be a terrible, but we hope a short-term human resources issue," said Dino Paternostro, senior vice president at GNO Inc., a business advocacy group. "But as we sit here on the eve of the House vote, we're excited that this could produce the new generation of space and manufacturing jobs at Michoud, Stennis and beyond."

On Monday, Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., chairman of House Science Committee, said he reluctantly agreed to bring the Senate bill up for a vote when it became clear agreement on a compromise bill couldn't be completed before Congress recesses later this week.

"For the sake of providing certainty, stability and clarity to the NASA workforce and larger space community, I felt it was better to consider a flawed bill than no bill at all as the new fiscal year begins," Gordon said.

The federal fiscal year begins Friday. House and Senate leaders are looking for a vote Wednesday or Thursday on measure that would largely retain spending at current levels, though some lawmakers from both parties are looking for some cuts to ease the current deficit.